[
  {
    "id": 696,
    "name": "8. Into the Obscure",
    "level": 80,
    "story": 128,
    "goals": [
      {
        "active": "Regroup with your allies to determine next steps.",
        "complete": "We've got one wizard left to find: Isgarren, a being of fable. Even I'd heard the rumors. The hamlet of Garenhoff worshipped him, without even realizing who or what he was. But, as I now know, everything that the people of that small town imagined of him and his tower were convenient illusions. Isgarren isn't some fatherly wizard that protects their special little town. His concerns are global. And he's...complicated. I've yet to meet him for myself, but I have a lot of questions ready for when I finally do.\n\nI regrouped with the Astral Ward, and the mood was still solemn following Mabon's death. Frode is encouraging us to push onward, despite everyone's desperate need to mourn. I'm especially worried about Zojja. Though I only caught a glimpse into her life up here, I can tell that Mabon was a big part of it.\n\nI didn't know him well, so the best thing I can do to honor his memory is trudge forward. But before we embark, I need to check on my friend.\n\n***"
      },
      {
        "active": "Check on Zojja's state of mind.",
        "complete": "I approached Zojja during a vulnerable moment. Years of persistent fighting and tragic loss all surfaced in a moment laid bare under the false illusion of privacy. Everything is in the open now—from Zojja's early days in Destiny's Edge through her time recovering in Rata Sum, to the present. All laid out. We've...never spoken like that. Not even before her injury at Maguuma.\n\nShe'd endured trauma and no longer had stature among the asura. She was sidelined—a scientist past her prime only mentioned in passing during history lectures. I'd occasionally thought of her all these years, and I would've jumped at the opportunity to see her. I just...lost track of time. Dealt with larger problems. I simply didn't know what she needed...or wanted. None of us did. After the blighting pod, Zojja needed to isolate herself. She hid from Logan. From all of us. She wasn't ready to talk. Not until now. Healing takes time.\n\nThe Astral Ward is her home now; I know this. Neglect didn't drive her to them, but a search for a new beginning. She needed to find a new path with new people who didn't just see her for her past accolades or Destiny's Edge. People who could see her for who she is and what she offered. Mabon saw the spark in her, but his death threatened to extinguish it.\n\nBut the wizards see her potential. Mabon wasn't alone in those thoughts. And now she has a big decision to make.\n\nDagda offered her a place on the Wizard's Court. The group clearly wants her to stay. But...that choice comes with heavy consequences. When someone \"ascends\" to become a wizard, they lose memories from their past lives—not necessarily in their entirety, but you forget places, events, and people you were once close to. I can tell Zojja wants to do this, but I can also see that she might not be ready to leave her old life behind. She asked about Taimi, who, of all our companions, would have some pretty strong feelings about all this.\n\nWhen we had no choice but to kill Ceri, she called her—and by extension the Astral Ward—\"found family.\" These people helped her to truly heal from her physical and mental injuries in ways that her contemporaries didn't. That her friends couldn't. The ward gave her an escape from the political trappings and dwindling cachet in Rata Sum. Zojja needed to leave the events of Maguuma behind, and the Astral Ward was the best thing she could've found.\n\nI told her that I'd support her no matter what and that I'll trust whatever decision she makes. Whoever she becomes after this, I will still call her my friend.\n\nI left Zojja to her thoughts. When I exited the barracks, I ran into Dagda lingering nearby. She dropped her hostile tone and instead treated me as someone concerned for a mutual friend. We both felt a little helpless in our attempts to comfort Zojja. I attempted to reassure her, emphasizing the weight of the decision she'd placed on our friend. It was the kindest interaction we've had yet. And I hope not the last.\n\n***"
      },
      {
        "active": "Safeguard Amnytas before the final assault on the World Spire.",
        "complete": "The search for Isgarren is on, and shadows continue to stir in the sky. I headed to Amnytas, where Rian introduced me to his wife, Kamilla, another Rift Hunter. She's been working alongside the ward to uncover unique enchantments to the Heart of the Obscure. After working with her to test the device by using distilled, potent emotions to lure powerful Kryptis, I continued supporting the ward in their fight to protect the bastions from the Kryptis.\n\nAfter I helped push back against the Kryptis, Zizel contacted me. A strange inkling drew his attention to the Bastion of the Obscure, but he couldn't determine what called him in that direction. He asked if I would investigate. The mysterious origin of this pull perplexed him—he couldn't tell if it originated from a Kryptis or Isgarren—but that's where I'm headed next.\n\n***"
      },
      {
        "active": "Help the Rift Hunters push back Kryptis incursions.",
        "complete": "After I helped push back against the Kryptis, Zizel contacted me. A strange inkling drew his attention to the Bastion of the Obscure, but he couldn't determine what called him in that direction. He asked if I would investigate. The mysterious origin of this pull perplexed him—he couldn't tell if it originated from a Kryptis or Isgarren—but that's where I'm headed next.\n\n***"
      },
      {
        "active": "Investigate the strange circumstances at the Bastion of the Obscure.",
        "complete": "When I arrived at the Bastion of the Obscure, I found R'tchikk and Gladium waiting for me outside. Zizel had asked them to guide me through. Akin to the hunch that guided us here, Glade sensed a strange presence inside but couldn't identify what exactly awaited us.\n\nIt was...Mabon. More accurately, his essence. Even though he was dead, I couldn't write off the possibility that deeper magic was at play in this place. We made our way inside, curious and anxious to face what lured us here.\n\nThe bastion was silent. R'tchikk mourned the once-bustling pathways as we crossed into the main hall, now filled with a stifling gloom that clung to the air and filled our lungs. Glade guided us forward, picking up on some trail the rest of us could not detect. We fought scores of Kryptis while searching through debris, until we eventually found a...peculiar artifact. I picked it up and experienced a vision... Or a memory, perhaps?\n\nI recognized Mabon's voice immediately. It was gravelly and strained as if after a drawn-out fight. A second figure hovered over him. Isgarren. His name flooded through my mind as I viewed him for the first time. He had Mabon, who was ready to concede, pinned to the ground. Isgarren taunted him and called his mursaat nature into question, asking why he didn't fight back. But Mabon didn't flinch. He was ready to die by Isgarren's hands.\n\nR'tchikk and Glade called me back to reality before I could see the outcome, as Kryptis cut the moment short. After clearing the area, my companions asked what I saw when I picked up the artifact. I recounted what I was able—that Isgarren and Mabon had once been enemies, and inferred that whenever the memory was, it was likely before Mabon's ascension. He sounded harder. Life had not been kind to him up until that point.\n\nR'tchikk didn't seem too surprised, being someone surrounded by archaic magic daily. She departed with Glade to report what we found to Zizel. I hesitated for a moment, absorbing what I'd just witnessed. Even Peitha noted the rising tensions in the air—Isgarren's aura grows stronger as we near the war's apex. As we spoke, a curtness laced her voice. She seemed worried. In the same breath she delivered a second revelation: Cerus, that hulking beast that pursued me in Nayos, is her brother. I wanted to draw my weapon and strike her down but knew how little that would accomplish against my...inquisitive passenger. Cerus has circled me, she claimed, and has been hunting me this whole time. Waiting to pounce.\n\nThe time to find Isgarren and confront Cerus draws near. Once I regroup with my friends in Amnytas, we'll draw our next plan."
      }
    ]
  }
]